Toms River, condo association at odds over fence around beach | APP.com | Asbury Park PressTOMS RIVER — Though township officials contend a condominium complex has violated municipal ordinances by building a fence around its private beach, condo association leaders say it's a simple misunderstanding.-------------Seems the township leases the beach from the condo association and didn't do so this year. So the condo association decided to fence it off to keep out the Jersey Shore riffraff.

Problem: the condo association didn't get a construction permit before building the fence.

Weak strata laws favour developersThe unchecked ability of a B.C. strata developer to ignore the Strata Property Act, fail to maintain reserves, fail to pay strata fees on unsold strata lots and use its block of votes from unsold strata lots to corrupt governance for the developer's benefit are all too common in British Columbia.

In the absence of any defined offences and penalties under the Strata Property Act, a developer is subject only to civil action by the "empty-pocketed" strata buyer, a virtual impossibility.

Condos and HOAs | Sun-Sentinel.comRay says his West Palm Beach condo lease will likely not be renewed because of his daily habit of waiting outside the building on the sidewalk for about 10 minutes each day for his wife to arrive from work. As far as he knows, that is the only reason for rejection.--------------This post is from a blog by Daniel Vasquez, a Florida journalist who writes a column on condo and hoa issues.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Dusting for dog-crap in a fancy condo - Boing BoingThe condo association at Scarlett Place, a posh Baltimore building, have proposed to DNA-test all the dogs on the premises, and use DNA from errant dog-turds to identify feckless owners and fine them $500 per dog-pie. -------------I told my 19 year old son about this, and he said, "That sounds like something from The Onion." Yes, it does. But it is real. It is no longer possible to parody the antics of HOA boards because no matter how absurd the concept you come up with, they have already exceeded it.

Thanks to Mystery Reader for this link. I also got it from Fred Pilot who contributed two more stories below. I have been too busy to blog for several weeks so thanks to those who sent me items--I will see about catching up.

So heated has the low-level war between residents and The Capricorn Beach Homeowners' Association (HOA) become that the association has reportedly racked up a R191 000 bill in legal battles against homeowners.---------------Those R thingies are Rands. That's the currency in South Africa. According to my friendly neighborhood internet converter, R191,000 amounts to $24,227. So it seems that HOA lawyers are expensive the world around.

Hern said he was late on his association dues but objected to the added fees and decided to fight. Over the years, he said the attorney's fees kept adding up.

"They were asking for a little over $25,000 in fees," he said.-------------------And of course now that the HOA has lost, their attorney is promising to "address this further through the legal process," which translates into litigation without limit to crush any owner who stands up for his rights.

U.S. Banks Post Profit, but Woes Persist - WSJ.comWASHINGTON—A total of 775 banks, or one-tenth of all U.S. banks, were on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s list of "problem" institutions in the first quarter, as bad loans in the commercial real-estate market weighed on bank balance sheets.---------------This recovery is going well.